Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) resignation announcement means the Tea Party has taken control of the GOP.
Friday on the Senate floor, Reid said it was “very, very sad that the Tea Party caucus” that Republican leaders embraced to win seats in 2010 “has now taken over control of the party.”
Reid, whom Boehner reportedly once told to go “go f**k yourself,” claimed that Boehner “is a conservative Republican” whose problem is that he “has been pragmatic” when “there comes times where you have to make a deal.”
Boehner said he had planned to leave Congress last year but remained after conservatives and Tea Party supporters ousted House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) in his 2014 Virginia primary, mainly because Cantor’s support of amnesty made him out of touch with his constituents.
“To say that I will miss John Boehner is a tremendous understatement,” Reid said. “I looked out for him in the ways that I could and he looked out for me in the ways that he could,”
Reid added that he would always consider Boehner a friend and would help him set “up a golf game in Las Vegas” or “with some government matter” in the future.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.